When Maverick Carter, LeBron James and a powerful European-based NBA agent appeared in an Instagram post together in late July, yachting in the south of France and touting big plans to come in the caption, it caused ripples across the basketball world.
Speculation bubbled for months about a potential international men’s and women’s league that would involve Carter as an adviser and could, potentially, pose a threat to both the NBA and WNBA. Carter, James’ chief business partner and longtime friend from their days growing up together in Akron, Ohio, had even spoken publicly about his desire to create another basketball “option” and was reportedly seeking $5 billion in investments to make it happen.
So when it was first revealed by Front Office Sports this week that Carter is no longer part of the plans — at least for now — it sparked confusion about what that might mean for this audacious venture if his cachet was no longer part of the calculus. Yet according to Grady Burnett, a former Google and Facebook executive who is the co-founder of this venture that’s known as Project B, a women’s league is still being built and a men’s league could still be created as well.
As Burnett told The Athletic, Project B is set to begin with the women’s basketball league, in large part, because of the immense growth and interest in the sport. It will feature six teams of 11 players each that play seven two-week tournaments in cities across Asia, Europe and the Americas, and is already two years in the making. Burnett believes it can be a multi-billion dollar business.
The league, which he started with Skype co-founder and longtime friend Geoff Prentice, is looking to attract top players across the world. It has already begun negotiating with some WNBA stars, league sources said, and Burnett confirmed that they have already signed WNBA players.
“The growth in women’s sports rivals anything in AI right now,” Burnett told The Athletic, explaining why it is launching with women’s basketball. “It is truly majestic.”
The salaries that women’s basketball players could draw in this league are expected to be significantly higher than the ones they earn in the ‘W.’ Yet with WNBA players making a strong push to secure a much bigger piece of the revenue pie in forthcoming collective bargaining agreement negotiations this offseason, league officials are widely expected to make a push of their own for players to compete exclusively for their league. Either way, almost all veteran WNBA players will be free agents this offseason.
Former WNBA player Alana Beard, here in a 2018 file photo, will serve as Project B’s “chief basketball officer.” (Rich von Biberstein / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
But those are issues to be resolved another day. For now, Burnett said, the focus for the Plan B group is to create a quality leadership team that legitimizes their long-term goals.
Alana Beard, the former Duke and WNBA star, will serve as chief basketball officer. Candace Parker, Steve Young, Novak Djokovic, and Sloane Stephens are among the investors and advisors, Burnett said. Sela, an entertainment company owned by the Saudi-owned Public Investment Fund, will be a partner, while Project B will be headquartered in Singapore.
Burnett and Prentice were once roommates at the University of Michigan. That background, Burnett said, informed how they plan to run the league. Much like early employees in tech companies receive equity in those companies, Burnett wants to do the same with Project B. That will come with salaries that are, he said, “multiples higher than what exists in women’s professional sport.”
“Sport has become this massive global asset class,” he said. “For the vast majority, the players have not participated in the economics of that, and they’ve sat on the outside of it. That is something that is frustrating to athletes, and is — as sort of the central resources, central IP within that business — the driver of it. We think it’s really important to start with equity.”
The women’s basketball league, Burnett said, intends to launch next fall. It will run from November through April, so it will not overlap with the WNBA season — but will with Unrivaled, another upstart basketball league.
Burnett said the league hopes to reach the many basketball fans who live outside the United States. While the league will initially avoid the WNBA season, he doesn’t discount that it could eventually become a competitor to the WNBA.
“We see this as something that will be helpful to lifting athletes across all sport and bringing more access and proximity to fans across the world,” he said. “So does it put us in competition? Maybe. But I think we’re trying to do something that is additive to the sport and to the overall ecosystem. And we’ve got tremendous respect for the W and other leagues that are out there but we think there’s plenty of room for another offering.”
So, where does that leave the plans for a men’s league that could create chaos in the NBA? That remains unclear.
When Carter was involved, there were comparisons being made to the controversial LIV Golf league, in large part, because of the presence of Saudi partners and the prospect of James’ possible involvement. Several sources close to star players indicated that there is a genuine curiosity on their part to see where this all goes, with players and their agents drawn by the allure of making even more money in this league and, potentially, being given the kind of equity stakes that aren’t available in the NBA. But Carter’s lack of involvement could be a game-changer on that front.
Still, Burnett did not dispute that Project B could expand into men’s basketball, including a possible launch as soon as next fall.
“We’re going to focus on the women’s side at this point,” he said. “I think it’s natural to assume that we will do other things after that.”
The NBA’s standard player contract specifically bars players from playing for any other league, if a player is signed to a deal with a team. Burnett said that it will “cross that bridge on other leagues or on other potential conflicts in the future.”
The potential league has already brought on intrigue across the NBA, where it first came into view with Carter involved. Burnett said Carter had helped Project B “along the way, but he is not involved at this time.”
While the new global basketball venture is moving forward, people with NBA backgrounds have interviewed for jobs in the new league, multiple league sources told The Athletic. It was not immediately clear why Carter is no longer a part of the group or when the split occurred, but a league source said Carter was taking meetings about a new league as late as last week. The Athletic has also identified at least three people with backgrounds in the NBA who have interviewed for jobs in the league.
“This group came to Maverick for consultation, which he gave, and he subsequently stepped away months ago,” a spokesperson for Carter told The Athletic. “He is no longer working with them or any other basketball league in Europe.”
There is wide speculation that James, who turns 41 in December, could retire from the Los Angeles Lakers as soon as the end of this season, his 23rd in the NBA. James is playing out the final year of his contract with the Lakers, worth $52.6 million, the first time he’s ever started a season without at least a player’s option for the following season.
That’s why there was so much buzz when James teased a “second decision” on social media Monday — and perhaps, among fans and reporters, a bit of a letdown when the tease was actually revealed to be for an ad campaign for brandy. And that’s why this topic was such a focal point behind the scenes at Lakers media day on Sept. 29, when the questions regarding his next step — retirement, or perhaps playing in this league — loomed so large.
That he appeared alongside Carter and Nikola Jokić’s Serbian-based agent Miško Ražnatović on that yacht this summer led to more buzz. Ražnatović posted a photo of all three of them together with a caption that read “The summer of 2025 is the perfect time to make big plans for the fall of 2026!” Ražnatović declined comment when reached by The Athletic. Burnett confirmed that the meeting on the yacht was about Project B. Burnett also said there have been no discussions with James about joining the league.
An NBA source close to James said the global superstar currently has “zero” involvement in Project B. The source, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about James’ plans, said LeBron is “focused on finishing his last years in the NBA,” and when his NBA career is over, he “will turn his focus elsewhere if he chooses.”
As he considers what’s “next,” James also maintains a keen interest in owning an NBA franchise after he retires, particularly if an expansion team is awarded to Las Vegas. He is personally worth more than $1 billion, and is connected to at least two high-powered, extremely wealthy firms with experience owning pro sports teams — Fenway Sports Group and RedBird Capital.
While the future remains uncertain for James and the people around him, Project B is set to move forward on its own time. It is set to announce its first WNBA players in the near future and the speculation of who may join will surely drum up more interest. The prospect of higher pay and a new paradigm for the sport is intriguing in women’s basketball.
But the league has already turned heads while it operated in the shadows. Burnett said the women’s league is only a beginning. So where will it go next?